PGA sponsors strike gold with Wie despite resistance
By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer
Published July 7, 2005
Some players get it, some simply do not.
When the subject is Michelle Wie - or any woman - getting a sponsor's exemption to play in a PGA Tour event, some moan about the lost opportunity for one of their brethren, but gladly cash the six-figure check at the end of the week.
That big money, by the way, is almost completely funded by a title sponsor looking to get some return on a huge investment. This week, it is the John Deere Classic, which doesn't have a single top five player in the world in the field.
So tournament organizers invited Wie, the 15-year-old phenom from Hawaii, and hit the jackpot. More television viewers will tune in to the John Deere today and Friday than will watch the LPGA Tour event in Toledo, where Wie is not playing. And certainly more will watch than would have if this were just a regular PGA Tour event.
And then there are the extra tickets she helps sell, with proceeds going to charity. Oh yeah, a happy sponsor means more of the $4-million to $6-million purses that are prevalent on the PGA Tour.
"Well, if the sponsors want to get a crowd, that's what they do," said one of those who gets it, Tiger Woods, when asked about Wie last week at the Western Open. "I got an exemption (to the L.A. Open) when I was 16. I understand where she's coming from and where they're coming from."
Not everyone does.
There are certainly issues about whether Wie should even be competing in LPGA Tour events, let alone on the PGA Tour, where twice previously she has failed to make the cut at her hometown Sony Open. But in terms of a business move? It's an easy decision to invite her.
"I'm just a proponent of test yourself against the best in your own game," PGA Tour player Steve Flesch said. "It doesn't bother me that she is playing our tour. More power to her. But in my opinion, she should win a lot of tournaments on the LPGA, and (then) if she wants to give it a shot out here, fine."
For what it's worth, Wie is not swayed by the talk.
"I realize that not everyone is going to support what I do and I'm fine with that," she said at the U.S. Women's Open. "There's been a lot of support. And there has been resistance, too. But like I said before, the one characteristic that I have is I don't really care what anyone says."
AUGUSTA CHANGES: Augusta National announced last week that it would be lengthening six holes on the course used for the Masters, a move that has many believing that it will simply make it easier - not more difficult - for the long hitters to prosper.
"I don't think they need any more length, but I guess (Augusta chairman Hootie Johnson) thinks they need more length, so I don't want to criticize that," Jack Nicklaus said. "I just think it makes it more of a long hitter's golf course. More and more and more power is what happens in the game; I've felt for quite a while that I don't think that's good. But that even accentuates it more."
Nicklaus pointed out two examples of where long hitters will be at an even greater advantage, the par-4 first and the par-4 17th. Both holes have hills that only the longest players can reach from the tee. Shorter hitters will be even farther behind. "I think it actually plays into the hands of the long hitters more than it did before," Nicklaus said.
PHIL'S SCOUTING MISSION: Before playing in the Scottish Open which begins today in Glasgow, Phil Mickelson visited the Old Course at St. Andrews, about two hours away, for two days this week.
Mickelson, who missed a playoff by a shot at last year's Open at Royal Troon, said the course will play different than it did in 2000, when Woods won by eight shots.
"A lot of the bunkers that were not in play in 2000 are in play this year, and I think it's been very well done," Mickelson said. "The course is playing the way it was supposed to play years ago. I can't wait to get back there."
AROUND GOLF: Jim Furyk won the Western Open on Sunday and became the eighth player to win the title who also won a U.S. Open played in Chicago. The last was Hale Irwin. The others were Cary Middlecoff, Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen, John McDermott, Alex Smith and Willie Anderson. ... Woods leads the PGA Tour in greens hit in regulation when he is in the fairway. His percentage is 82 percent. But if he misses a fairway, Woods' percentage goes down to 59.4 percent. ... Wie begins play Monday in 36-hole stroke-play qualifying at the U.S. Amateur Public Links. The top 64 players advance to match play, which concludes July 16. The winner of the tournament typically receives an invite to the Masters.
Information from the Quad-City Times, Reuters and Times wires was used in this report.
